Improvements Help Animal Care Services Send More Pets Home in 2014

Aggressive spay and neutering programs and new partnerships helped Long Beach Animal Care Services (ACS) significantly increase live release rates, and also realize all-time lows for the number of intakes and euthanized animals in 2014.

“Long Beach Animal Care Services made terrific progress this year, thanks to increased community engagement, proactive enforcement, and the commitment of staff and volunteers” said Mayor Robert Garcia. “All their hard work is making Long Beach an even better city for animals.”

The public is invited to learn more about these accomplishments and future plans by attending the annual ACS Open House on January 24, 2015 at 10 am, at the P.D. Pitchford Companion Animal Village, 7700 East Spring Street.

In 2014, 1,100 fewer dogs and cats were euthanized compared to 2013, a decrease of more than 21 percent. The live release rate for dogs climbed to over 75 percent in 2014, compared to 72 percent in 2013, and the live release rate for cats increased to over 46 percent in 2014 from only 26 percent in 2013.

Live release rates include the number of animals from a shelter that are adopted, returned to an owner, or transferred to another non-profit agency that guarantees homes for all of the animals it receives.

LBACS worked hard to strengthen existing relationships with groups such as spcaLA, Friends of Long Beach Animals and Fix Long Beach. Additionally, in 2014 ACS added new strategic partners such as Found Animals, Stray Cat Alliance, Bark Avenue Foundation, Wings of Rescue, Shelter Me, ASPCA, Jason Heigl Foundation, Zazzy Cats, Helen Sanders Cat Paws and West Coast Animal Rescue, which all helped increase live release rates. These groups along with many other rescue groups that have worked with LBACS on behalf of the shelter animals.

Looking ahead to 2015, LBACS will make organizational changes, including hiring a full-time adoption coordinator. Efforts will be made to continue to reach out to the community to grow the volunteer program and other new programs to support the vision of LBACS to be California’s safest large city for people and animals.

LBACS provides Animal Care services in the City of Long Beach and the Cities of Cerritos, Seal Beach, Signal Hill and Los Alamitos. Visit www.longbeach.gov/acs and “Like” us on Facebook to learn more about ACS.